Intermediate marks unlikely in Eamcet

Hyderabad: Weightage may not be given to Intermediate marks in deciding Eamcet ranks from the next academic year onwards.

With Telangana and AP set to have separate Intermediate exams from 2015-16, the governments are considering scrapping the weightage given to Intermediate marks in Eamcet final ranking altogether as a common entrance exam with separate Inter boards will require a normalisation procedure for marks.

Normalisation of marks in the case of JEE Main have already come under fire with several cases being filed in courts over the issue.

Officials have already indicated that separate Intermediate exams in the two states might be a possibility only in the next academic year. However, officials are also of the view that scrapping the 25 per cent Intermediate weightage might be a good idea due to the controversies that normalisation processes usually attract.

With separate exams and a common Eamcet, the two governments have two options before them. One is to evolve a normalisation mechanism like that one used in JEE Main.

Or the weightage could be scrapped altogether. “There is the option of scrapping the weightage for Intermediate marks. We have given that option. Normalisation will definitely lead to controversies,” a top official said.

Officials also say that introducing another normalisation formula will lead to controversies. "Already there are several cases pending in courts about normalisation. The problem is that there is no accepted method for normalisation," another official of the AP State Council of Higher Education said.

The united Andhra Pradesh government had also taken up this issue last year with the Centre. Normalisation of marks in JEE Main and top 20 percentile norms in JEE Advanced had adversely affected the prospects of many students who wanted to join the IITs, NITs and other prominent centrally-funded technical institutions.